David Sedgwick

Professor Chris Day, who was brought up in North Tyneside, has agreed to join the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

The liver disease expert – Newcastle University’s new vice-chancellor and president – studied medicine at the University of Cambridge before returning to the North East to practise at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital.

He was formerly Head of the School of Clinical Medical Sciences at Newcastle University and, since April 2008, had been Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Medical Sciences.

Lady Elsie is extremely pleased to welcome him on board and, when the two met recently, Professor Day shared his memories of his first encounter with Sir Bobby, which took place when Sir Bobby was manager of Ipswich Town FC.

Ipswich Town were playing a friendly against Cambridge University in 1980 and Professor Day was playing for Cambridge.

On hearing his accent from the sideline, Sir Bobby shouted “By, you’re a long way from home bonny lad!”

Lady Elsie said: “We’re extremely pleased to welcome Professor Day as a Trustee. As Bob would say, he’s a great signing for us.”

“It’s very important that we have the best people in place to make sure we keep making the right decisions with the money raised for us.”

The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation will also welcome another experienced Trustee in the coming weeks to further strengthen their Board.

Sir Bobby launched his charity in 2008 and it has gone on to raise more than £10m to find more effective ways to detect and treat cancer.

The work funded directly benefits cancer patients in the North East and Cumbria and plays a significant role in the international fight against the disease.

Working within the NHS, the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation does not employ professional fundraisers to proactively raise money and relies completely on third party, volunteer fundraisers and the incredible generosity of the general public.

Most recently, the charity made a £1m contribution to fund clinical research and nursing posts at the new Wolfson Childhood Cancer Research Centre at Newcastle University.